The act of choosing a name, be it for a new baby or for a company, has taken quite a cultural shift since the early days of history. Back in the bible days, every name had a literal meaning which had also had significance in the biblical story. Even today, those who follow the mystical traditions of the Kabbalah obsess over every letter in a baby’s name as it is believed that one’s name has impact on their destiny.

In a stark contrast, today’s culture puts more emphasis on the phonetics and pop-cultural connotations when choosing a name. Need proof? conduct a quick survey among peers and see how many people know the meaning of the names Isabelle and Ethan (both top 5 names in the past few years and both have literal Hebrew meaning and biblical connotations). point in case, how many people actually named their girls Britney/Britanny (or one of the other variations of the name)  because of their strong Anglo affection?

Same can be said for naming of companies/businesses, one of the worst mistakes an entrepreneur can do is name his creation frivolously. The first advice for entrepreneurs pitching their company is to have a sticky story and the beginning of the story is the company’s name. If customers/employees/investors have an interesting story to remember the company by, they will never forget your company’s name and if the name is good it will also remind them what the company does.

Back to the bible, in the story of the world’s creation, Adam’s first task from God is to name each and every animal in the garden of Eden to assert his ownership of them. Taking the naming process lightly shows lack of proactiveness and creativity from the entrepreneur’s side.

5 tips for better naming:

1. Put time into it – I am always amazed to hear stories about folks putting 30 minutes of thought into the name of the company before submitting the company registration documents to the lawyer. The process should take at least a week or two. between the quality of the name, it’s originality and the domain availability, this is a cumbersome process.
My previous company’s name, B-hive, come to the world from a combination of literal, phonetical and cultural associations. We were planning to solve the problem of service level and complexity in modern data centers and so bees and hives came to mind. we were dealing with behavioral patterns of large computer systems so “behave” was in the back of our minds and only in retrospective did i realize that the name was sealed by having Austin powers playing in the background and saying “Oh Be-have!” (which sounds a lot like B-hive).

2. Beware of trends – Meebo, Squidoo, Zimbra, Swicki, Django, Atiki.. you are starting to see a pattern here? cutesy web2.0ish names that are completely meaningless. Entrepreneurs are there to swim against the tide and change the world, so why buy into silly trends?

3. Test drive the name and story – You got at least 2 ideas you and your partners are happy with, start socializing it with trusted friends and family. Your associative world might be different than the rest of the world, so don’t ask them what they think of it, just throw it out there and ask them what it reminds them of.

4. Beware of lowest common denominator – Unfortunately, a lot of bland, meaningless and boring names come to the world because too many people can’t agree with one another so they go for the safe and trendy name. Have one person driving the process and the rest can veto but don’t try to get everyone on a high level of excitement from the same name. It hardly ever happens.

5. It can change – It’s OK to start with one name and then switch to another. there are high costs associated but life happens while you are busy planning it, so the company’s debut (refereed to as “Launch”) is a natural point in which the name needs to be re-evaluated. Knowing the name can be temporary, helps avoid the lowest common denominator problem too and give you time to truly test drive the name.

(5 notwithstanding, the suggestions apply to babies and companies alike)